Tag Archives: Game Theory

Medici and Innovation

First encountered the notion of the Medici effect through this interview with Frans Johansson in Ubiquity, a journal frequently mentioned on the Humanist Discussion Group.
A recent article about important changes coming from simple ideas made me post a short blog entry about changes from simple ideas. Interestingly enough, Johansson himself posted a comment to that entry.
This is in fact a frequent stream of thought, for me. In both business and academia, we tend to live through ideas. Specific ideas. Especially those which can generate money or research projects. An important dimension of the “Medici Effect” seems to be that simple ideas can lead to great accomplishments. Another important dimension is that ideas are both generated in and implemented by groups. Some social contexts seem especially conducive to new ideas. This perspective is well-known enough that even Denys Arcand’s Invasions Barbares had something to say about it.
There’s a lot of directions one could take to talk about innovation from that point. Among the possible threads: artistic creativity, personal innovation, sense of discovery, the economies of ideas, ideas come from the people, “intellectual property,” fluid/organic innovation, boundless ideas, innovation through links between ideas, Lavoisier on ideas (nothing is created or lost, everything is transformed, including ideas), and so on and so forth.
My personal feeling is that the very concept of innovation has become something of a “core value” for a number of people, especially in industrialized society. The type of “newer is better” view of “progress” in both society and technology.
In my mind, the best thing to do is simply to bring ideas together, a “shock of ideas” («le choc des idées»). Hence the long list of tags… 😉

Great Changes from Small Ideas

Valley Advocate: Thinking Small

An interesting concept and a fairly good article on the benefits of starting from very small ideas. It connects with a lot of different things, like innovation, maybe because it's so simple (in a useful way). A bit like “baby steps” on both cognitive and social levels. Reminds me of Chowhounds and the SBM (slightly better muffin) idea. And because it focuses on idea generation, it makes me think of Gotlib's  «homme à idées» (“Idea Man”) in a volume of the famous Rubrique à brac series (volume 3?).

If more academics could think like this. Medici Effect, anyone?

And why is it so many big ideas find their ways into economics and business yet have limited practicality for the real world? 😉